Advil scores marketing pact with NHL

NEW YORK – Advil has been named an official partner and the official pain reliever of the National Hockey League and the NHL's 30 athletic trainers in North America for the 2013-14 season.

Pfizer Consumer Healthcare said Monday that under the agreement, the over-the-counter pain relief brand is also an official partner and the official pain reliever of the 2014 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic and the 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series.

As an official partner of the NHL, Advil will get significant media exposure, including prominent in-ice brand position, camera-visible dasherboards and placement at accompanying fan festivals of NHL tent-pole events.

"The Advil brand has joined the NHL family at a very exciting time," commented Dave Lehanski, senior vice president of integrated sales for the NHL. "With the most ambitious series of big events in league history planned for this season — six outdoor games over 61 days — we are delivering unprecedented fan engagement while offering our partners more opportunities to activate than ever before."

The Advil brand will also benefit from custom integration throughout all NHL-controlled media properties, including NHL.com, NHL Network and NHL Social, in addition to the league's U.S. national broadcast partner, NBC Sports Group, according to Pfizer.

"The NHL deal provides a terrific platform for driving the launch of our new, fast-acting Advil line," stated Brian Groves, U.S. chief marketing officer for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. "Advil is built to be as fast as it is tough. We see the players and the league as embodying the fast acting Advil promise of fast recovery from tough pain."